00:12
I kind of miss the lunch meetings on campus where we had free food like curry or some other like
Chinese food and you know we we had the like talk seminars and then we can... I see also those
were lunchtime? Yeah for lunch yeah during lunch time and that's that's actually very nice and it's
probably a good way to encourage attendance as well. Exactly exactly so even when we're not really
interested in the in the talk yeah yeah and yeah so and uh sometimes it ends up being interesting
yeah exactly yeah unexpectedly yeah so that that was that was nice I miss those opportunities here
where I work now um we don't really have that kind of um lunch meetings and you should start
a lunchtime we want to we have we we kind of have really strict rules about working hours in Japan
it's so bizarre so we have these um bells ringing when the lunchtime begins what can you believe
wait you can't decide when to have lunch no no it's so it's like going back to
so I kind of I ignore everything and uh I I'm telling love members they don't have to stick
to those bells because it doesn't you know having bells or having um this uh lunch meeting um
is set up for us doesn't make people's you know mind healthy or um yeah and also especially in a
research context sometimes like it makes more sense if your job is something you can pick up
and you know stop whenever you want and just restart whenever you want again but sometimes
like what if you're in the middle of the experiment yeah when you're thinking about
right or when you're thinking about something and you're like your your train of thought is
somewhere you're not gonna be like oops it's 12 o'clock it's lunchtime yeah so it's it's really
Japanese thing that we have to stick to those times that is stupid yeah it's so stupid yeah
I had a um meeting it's the intention is the intention to sort of stop people from
overworking yeah like making sure yeah they stick to times yeah yeah but that that is not the point
03:00
I think right yeah I feel like it's one of those things like the solution you're providing does
not solve the problem that you're facing yeah yeah yeah so yeah and also those bells that ring
um happens when the working hours like the official hours ends um so and also I think
there are many more announcements um for some reason in this you know what yeah I think I
heard of this I heard of my friends just working like a regular you know corporate work in Japan
but like a few hours later they're like again like for you gotta you gotta go home
and like okay we're closing the building now you really have to get out or something like that
it's just crazy it's so crazy
and also there's a bizarre music
I can't remember but he makes me kind of irritated
by this so it doesn't make um I don't think it would improve um even if it was like a perfectly
good piece of music you like by association you probably get irritated by it now
wow that is it's it's just so insane to me that that that is although I don't know some in some
places you know in Japan I guess it's it's a bit different because like these bells are there to
sort of make people do a certain thing whereas um I've done some beam time experiment in Germany
and five o'clock everyone is out like lights come off and you need to stop everything like no stuff
is going to be there you as a beam time experiment to experiment people like you are allowed to stay
and stuff but the staff will leave like no hesitation like it's five or six I can't remember
about like that's end of their work time and because they have very strong union they just
don't work not a minute more and they just go it's like you know good for them I guess especially for
being time it's kind of it never ends so you could easily stay overnight um which you don't
want that to be your everyday probably but it's kind of crazy because like science or research
discovery doesn't work on a clock hour basis like it just does it it doesn't sometimes you finish
06:08
you run out of things to do and you need to rest at like 2 p.m and you need you should be able to go
home if you want to do that and sometimes if you want to if things are working you're very excited
and you want to stick to the end of it you should be allowed to stay late as well yeah yeah so
So, research and discovery is not something that can be done on a time-based basis.
Of all the possible occupations, research is like the least feasible with the time-based system.
But yeah, for people who decide on those rules...
Does that mean you can't have an event at lunchtime?
I'm not sure about that but I guess there's a like a rule that determines lunchtime when people are supposed to be resting
There's an official rule for that.
Interesting.
So perhaps it might be difficult to set up a lunch talk session because as an official event because people are supposed to be resting.
Right.
It's like if you're gonna cater some really good lunch food then you know maybe this works right like it's like
it's both productivity and you know like a healthy meal that's provided for you.
Yeah, we might be able to have really interesting and stimulating conversations during lunch.
And also you should never undermine I feel like just that kind of organic interaction between your colleagues
or like not necessarily your colleagues directly but people who work in other labs.
You don't necessarily talk to these people without these kind of department-wide events.
You don't really see their faces so it's pretty cool actually to have these seminar series
and if the talk is not super stimulating but at least to sort of see your friends and catch up.
Yeah.
Like, hey, how have you been doing?
Yeah.
And we all love free foods, I think.
Exactly.
You know that's one thing American colleges do well that is free food.
Yeah.
And they know that grad students who do anything to come for free pizza, free cookies, free anything.
Yeah.
I used to strategically, this is pre-COVID, but strategically plan the week knowing,
09:05
okay, on Friday I have invited speaker lunch and on Thursday I have this department diversity meeting
that I can attend.
If I do, then I get a free sandwich so I don't have to pack my lunch.
Okay.
I had a schedule.
So I was like, okay, I only need a bento twice a week today.
Yeah.
Genuinely.
Not so much anymore because COVID and also sometimes you cannot always make a time for these events.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So the kind of lunch meetings I miss terribly here.
So many different ways that you can spend your lunch time.
Yeah.
I had no idea the whole bell situation, man.
That's crazy.
It's still so insane.
Yeah.
And also it kind of disrupts my experiment because people are doing a task and sometimes the bell sounds can occur.
Oh, they think it's some kind of signal.
Yeah.
They stop what they're doing and you're like, no, no, no, please continue.
Yes.
You should really bring that up.
It's positively affecting my experiments.
So please do something about this bell situation.
Yeah.
Wow.
Yeah.
You should talk to your boss about that.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, that's it for the lunch time.
That's it for the show today.
Thanks for listening and find us at Eigo De Science on Twitter.
That is E-I-G-O-D-E-S-C-I-E-N-C-E.
See you next time.
